Google tests self-driving car

Google has completed successful test run of their self-driving car this weekend in California.

Google’s self-driving car project has been in testing for months now, and their cars have driven over 140,000 miles with minimal human assistance and over 1000 miles on complete automation. While many have reported that Google’s impressive new project works on some sort of Artificial Intelligence, the truth is that Artificial Intelligence is still an impossible dream.

Larry and Sergey founded Google because they wanted to help solve really big problems using technology. And one of the big problems they’re working on today is car safety and efficiency. there goal is to help prevent traffic accidents, free up people’s time and reduce carbon emissions by fundamentally changing car use.

So they have developed technology for cars that can drive themselves. The automated cars, manned by trained operators, just drove from our Mountain View campus to  Santa Monica office and on to Hollywood Boulevard. They’ve driven down Lombard Street, crossed the Golden Gate bridge, navigated the Pacific Coast Highway, and even made it all the way around Lake Tahoe. All in all, the self-driving cars have logged over 140,000 miles. We think this is a first in robotics research.

The automated cars use video cameras, radar sensors and a laser range finder to “see” other traffic, as well as detailed maps to navigate the road ahead. This is all made possible by Google’s data centers, which can process the enormous amounts of information gathered by the cars when mapping their terrain.

To develop this technology, google gathered some of the very best engineers from the DARPA Challenges, a series of autonomous vehicle races organized by the U.S. Government. Chris Urmson was the technical team leader of the CMU team that won the 2007 Urban Challenge. Mike Montemerlo was the software lead for the Stanford team that won the 2005 Grand Challenge. Also on the team is Anthony Levandowski, who built the world’s first autonomous motorcycle that participated in a DARPA Grand Challenge, and who also built a modified Prius that delivered pizza without a person inside. The work of these and other engineers on the team is on display in the National Museum of American History.

Safety is the first priority in this project. So they ave always a trained safety driver behind the wheel who can take over as easily as one disengages cruise control. They also have a trained software operator in the passenger seat to monitor the software. Any test begins by sending out a driver in a conventionally driven car to map the route and road conditions. By mapping features like lane markers and traffic signs, the software in the car becomes familiar with the environment and its characteristics in advance.

What do you think??